Edwards Aquifer restrictions eased after buckets of rain

A car stalled in high water at the 600 block of East Crockett on Sept. 4, 2018. San Antonio is close to breaking the 1946 record of 15.78 inches of rain for the wettest September.

Photo: Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

The Edwards Aquifer Authority downgraded its water pumping restrictions to Stage 1 on Thursday after recent rains replenished the aquifer and increased spring flows.

An additional half-inch of rain fell Thursday, raising the September total to 14.88 inches at San Antonio International Airport, just shy of the record 15.78 set in September 1946, according to the National Weather Service.

The switch to Stage 1 from Stage 2 means big users of the aquifer, such as utilities, have to cut their annual pumping total by 20 percent, rather than 30 percent. The EAA based its decision on measurements from Sept. 13, one of which showed the aquifer had reached a 10-day average at the J-17 index well in Bexar County of 657.2 feet above sea level.

San Antonio Water System, which serves more than 1.8 million people, remains in Stage 2, limiting watering with sprinklers to once a week. SAWS is required to wait 15 days after the 10-day average surpasses 660 feet, which happened Sept. 15.

“So on Oct. 1, we’ll seriously look at coming out of any of the stages,” SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said.

Hayden encouraged customers to keep sprinkler systems turned off for a few weeks, especially with more rain expected this weekend. An El Niño weather pattern is likely this winter, increasing the odds of above-average rainfall, according to the weather service.

“People really shouldn’t need to water their lawns for some time,” Hayden said.

Scott Huddleston is a veteran staff writer at the San Antonio Express-News covering Bexar County Commissioners Court and county government.

He has been a reporter at the Express-News since 1985, covering a variety of issues, including public safety, flooding, transportation, military and veterans affairs, history and local government.

Huddleston covered the final construction phase of the SBC Center -- now AT&T Center, where the Spurs play -- in 2002, and wrote "Then&Now," a weekly historical feature, for the Sunday Metro section from 2001-2006.